


A Study in Falling

by SilverServerError



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, illustrated story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 09:25:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8662183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverServerError/pseuds/SilverServerError
Summary: Movement Three: Adagio “You’re so sweet, Yuri,” He said quietly. Victor’s eyes followed as his hand shifted, dragging down his chest slowly, feeling him through tight, thin fabric. “My tasty little katsudon…”





	1. Sonata

Yuri pushed against the ice, taking to the air, and for a moment, flew.

 

And it was beautiful.

  
  
But it was wrong.

 

He knew it before he landed. He had known it from the moment he hesitated during the second step in the preparation. In a way he’d known since before he entered the rink today.

 

So had Victor.

 

Yuri hit the ice, momentum catching perpendicular to the line of his skate, and it carried him hard to the ground. He tucked and avoided the worst of the impact with a practice born of so many mistakes and bad landings he’d experienced over the years.

 

He didn’t allow himself a groan or a curse, but he sighed and sagged the slightest bit, sliding under his own momentum for a moment before pulling his will together and pushing against the ground.

 

He skipped forward in the routine to match it to the music, every intention to resume the runthrough as normal, but he only made it a few movements back in time before the rink fell to sudden silence, empty except for the sound of his skates cutting against the ice and his own labored breathing.

 

He wasn’t ready for a sharp cut off like that, and it fell into his chest like a void. Something left unfinished and abandoned.

 

It was more upsetting than he would have liked to admit.

 

But it was his own fault.

 

He only let it build the tiniest amount before, by willpower alone, snuffing it out again. He knew what happened if he indulged those feelings. They didn’t lead anywhere good. With a deep, cleansing breath he finally turned, ready to face Victor’s critique and begin again.

 

But Victor wasn’t even looking at him.  
  
He was shrugging on his coat.

 

Yuri pushed off the ice and went to him at a speed that probably gave away his feeling of panic a little too blatantly.

 

“Victor! Where are you going?”

 

And Victor smiled at him like he smiled at everyone, even as his lips told brutally honest truths.

 

“Home, Yuri! We’re done here.”

 

And for a moment the panic _did_ seize him. Home? To Russia!? Yuri’s chest squeezed as the bottom fell out of his stomach. He felt too frozen to move or respond, even as the adrenaline told him to do something. Anything!

 

But Victor continued speaking, as if he couldn’t see Yuri’s devastation. And maybe he couldn’t. Yuri had gotten so good at hiding it over the past few months.

 

“We can try again tomorrow.” And relief flooded Yuri’s mind, even if his body was going to need a few minutes to calm down. “But you’re too tired right now. There’s no point in me wasting my time trying to coach you like this. And what if you hurt yourself?” Victor’s grin widened and his head tipped to the side. His bangs fell so beautifully over an eye. “Then you’d _really_ be useless to me!”

 

Yuri might have been offended or hurt- He probably should have said something to that. Apology. Explanation. A promise to do better.- but he was too busy floating on the realization that for the next twenty-four hours at least, Victor would still be here. He hadn’t messed up _that_ badly.

 

“...and maybe try to eat some protein tonight, yes? I appreciate the effort, Little Piggy, but you do realize I need you to have some energy, right?”

 

Victor’s voice faded in and Yuri realized he was so in his head that he hadn’t even been listening.

 

“Wait,” Yuri said, cutting him off. “I want to try it again.”

 

The smile on Victor’s lips didn’t fall, but his eyes were suddenly a little weary. His voice that slightest bit reproachful. “You’ve missed it the last four times, Yuri. If your body is too tired, it’s too tired. You can build your stamina, but not here by making me watch you fall down.”

 

“I’m sorry! I-”

 

But two gloved fingers touched his lips and he fell silent, looking wide-eyed at victor, who suddenly seemed very serious indeed, if still smiling in that calculated way he did. “Yuri,” He said softly, words only meant to reach the two of them and the small void between. “Don’t apologize. You can make mistakes. You can have weaknesses. But as long as you are trying your hardest for me, never apologize for them.”

 

“But I’m not!” Yuri blurted. The words escaped him like a desperate need, with no consideration for the filters that should have stopped them.

 

“You are not trying your hardest?”

 

Victor’s hand pulled away, hovering while, for what felt like the first time, Victor looked at him plainly, for once not performing, small frown and furrowed brow as he scrutinized Yuri’s terrified face.

 

Why had he admitted it!? It was insulting to Victor’s time. To his qualifications as a coach. There were so many deserving athletes who could be better for Victor. Why-?

 

But the hand ran down his jaw to gently bring his chin up and meet Victor’s gaze. The touch was warm in the cool air. Victor stood so close.

 

“But you want to. Don’t you?”

 

Yuri could have cried.

 

Victor understood. This shameful secret of his, and Victor just had to look at him to _know_.

 

“Is it me?” Victor asked softly. His touch slid tenderly back and forth under Yuri’s chin and he stared down at him like a puzzle, but one that promised to be beautiful and worth the patience. For his part, Yuri felt a flood of relief. Of gratitude. “Are you scared?” Victor lead him closer, and his voice grew even quieter. “Do I make you nervous?”

 

“No.”

 

Victor raised an elegant brow, but Yuri stood his ground. In a way the answer to both of those questions was ‘Yes’, but not here. Not on the ice. Not when it came to his skating.

 

“Then what is it?”

 

But that was the question, wasn’t it? And Yuri didn’t have an easy answer. Not for Victor. Not for himself either.

 

“Let me try again.” There was a new determination to his voice and across his face. “Please.”

 

“Am I going to watch you fall?”

 

“No!” Yuri’s own forcefulness surprised him, and he immediately started to back off. “I mean, I’ll try. Sometimes I get the rotation wrong and-”, but Victor reached out, holding him close by the shoulders, excited grin across his face and eyes alive.

 

“Yuri!” And the delighted laughter was plain in his voice. “I think I like it when you yell at me.”

 

Yuri blushed hard, but didn’t back down. He waited for Victor’s verdict.

  
“Fine,” Victor said with a smile. His hands fell away. He retreated. “From the top.”

 

Yuri nodded before skating back out to his starting position. When the music didn’t begin and the silence stretched too long, he looked back towards Victor. He was watching him with excitement and expectation, and Yuri felt it like a rush through his body. Only when they locked eyes did Victor grin and press play.

 

 

artwork by [Kurama2212](http://kurama2212.tumblr.com/post/153690704707/silverservererror-movement-one-sonata-is-it)


	2. Étude

There was something deeply satisfying about watching Yuri skate.

 

His technique was clean and pure. Time after time his body seemed to fall effortlessly into place. His weight placement was perfect. And his jumps didn’t lag long after even Victor would have been understanding about it. This solid stamina was another unintended consequence of the 20 pounds he’d so recently lost. With less body to lift, everything suddenly felt so easy.

 

The music came to an end and Yuri hit his final position, arms wrapping around his own shoulders, eyes searching out a reaction.

 

But technique wasn’t enough, or else Victor wouldn’t be here in the first place.

 

Yuri held the stance, lungs working but otherwise still. It wasn’t over until Victor said he could move.

 

And for now he was still staring at him, or rather _through_ him, with a contemplative look on that beautiful face.

 

‘No.’ Yuri thought to himself helplessly. ‘Look at me.’

 

But the moment passed. And Victor looked away, settling his hands on the short wall that surrounded the rink. “Ok,” He said. “Come back, my Little Piggy.”

 

Yuri sagged as he finally let the exertion of four consecutive runs of his routine show in his body, though, Victor reflected, Yuri still wasn’t as affected as he would have predicted.

 

Good.

 

Very good.  

 

But he needed more.

 

“You’re being selfish, you know.”

 

Yuri looked at him with more confusion than concern as he came to a stop a few feet away. “What?”

 

“You said my skating got you pregnant. But I feel like you’re not even trying to get me hard.”

 

Yuri gaped at him, an instant flustered mess. “I- I’m not!”

 

And he couldn’t help but smile. “Well, you should be.”

 

Victor stepped into the rink and for a moment Yuri’s heart raced, expecting Victor to approach him. And what was so exciting about that? So scary? But instead he skated past, tracing lazy arcs into the ice.

 

“Yuri, do you know why we skate?”

 

It sounded rhetorical, and he didn’t feel brave enough to hazard an answer right away, instead listening to the sound of Victor’s blades cutting into the ice. It was a space of contemplation. Of reflection.

 

It was his second answer that he felt Victor wanted to hear.

 

“Because we love it.”

 

Victor seemed to consider it, pursing his lips and tilting his head softly side to side a few times. “Fair. But why do we skate for an audience?”

 

“Because… Because they pay for the ticket?”

 

Victor laughed at him softly and Yuri instantly knew he’d said the wrong thing.

 

“Sorry. I-”

 

“No, no. I mean. I suppose that’s one way to put it.” Victor drew his feet together, and in a sudden half circle, he came to a stop. Yuri drifted closer. “They come to watch us skate because they can not do it themselves. They want beauty. They want to escape their own lives for a while, and they want us to take them there.

 

“For every person who can barely touch their toes or lift a leg… For every person who can’t spin…” Here Victor pivoted and presented an arm to the side of the rink, but in his body there was such yearning: with his chest, with his hand, with his eyes. Reaching out to an audience that wasn’t there. For a moment he was every inch the prince that Yuri had spent his childhood in awe of. “For every person who wants to be beautiful, and feels like they are not…” Victor came back into himself, once again standing normally, but there was a quiet joy in his posture. “This is what we must be.” Victor turned to him with a soft smile and a raised brow. “When you skate, everyone is giving you their hopes and their dreams. And you must be strong enough to carry them, Yuri.”

 

As the words sunk in, Victor watched Yuri’s eyes go wide. His chest constrict. His shoulders pull tight.

 

“No, no, no.” Victor laughed to himself, reaching over to pull him into a hug at his side. “Don’t get scared. I know you can do it.”

 

Yuri seemed to ease in his grasp, eyes darting first to Victor’s hand on his arm, then up at the man himself.

 

“It’s not a burden,” Victor said, as if he was quoting something. “It’s a privilege.”   
  
Victor slipped away, once again returning to his lazy tracings on the ice.

 

“It’s pressure.” Yuri rebutted softly, turning over a shoulder to watch him.

 

“Maybe!” Victor laughed, grinning wide. “But you can learn to love it. We can start right now.”

 

He skated close once more and again Yuri had that feeling of wanting to go to him and run away at the same time. But he stopped, this time squared up to Yuri and he felt so dangerously aware of the twelve inches that separated them.

 

“I’ll be your audience, Yuri. Don’t worry about everyone else for now. But I want you to think about it. What can you give me that I can’t do myself?”

 

But that list was so short. There wasn’t a single facet of figure skating that Victor didn’t surpass him at, whether jumps, footwork, stage presence… It had to be something else. But what could Victor mean when-

 

Yuri blushed hard and winced in hesitation. “An… erection?”

 

Victor blinked down at him. “What?”

 

“Before! You were saying-”

 

Victor shifted his weight into one hip and put a gloved hand to his forehead. “No… No, Yuri. _That_ I can do.” He brought both hands to his hips. “Try again.”

 

“To make you…”

 

Yuri petered off but Victor was nodding encouragement.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Pregnant?”

 

“No! Yuri, what the Hell?”

 

His voice was a little shrill. “You said it!”

 

“Well, you said it first!”

 

“It’s an expression! When _I_ said it, it made sense!”

 

“Ok! Ok.” Victor spread his hands in a placating gesture. “Calm down, Yuri. It’s very simple.” Without warning, he closed the gap between them, holding Yuri by the arms, who looked up, his flush no longer a product of embarrassment. “The thing I want you to do… That I can’t do myself...”

 

“Yes?” His voice was tight and breathless.

 

“I want you to seduce me.”

 

Yuri sucked in a quick gasp and the hands on his arms started to rub slowly up and down. If anything, Victor came closer.

 

“You said it made you feel good to watch me skate,” Victor murmured lowly. “When I watch you, don’t you want me to feel good to?”

 

“That’s all I want!”

 

The words were out before Yuri could stop them. And the confession left him terrified. How? How could he have let this slip? His real reason for skating. That impossible dream he’d held on to for all those years. How did Victor keep drawing these secrets out of him? Why was his heart suddenly so bare?

 

“I’m sorry! I-”

 

And then he was silenced.

 

Victor’s lips pressed against his own.

 

Impossible.   


Perfect.

 

The logical conclusion to a fantasy that he hadn’t allowed himself, even in the privacy of his own imagination.

 

Yuri’s eyes fell closed and the sensation overwhelmed. Soft lips against him. Victor holding him close. The grip on his arms so excitingly firm. His heart pounded as the feeling washed over him, shocked for bliss.

 

Then, Yuri kissed back.

 

Victor met him, full of surprise and delight. With an encouraging noise from his throat, he moved his hands to Yuri’s waist and behind his neck, pulling them flush together. Yuri gasped against him and he took advantage, kissing him deeper, teasing against his tongue. Yuri clutched at him, arms thrown around his shoulders, wanting more, wanting-

 

Victor’s hand pushed against his chest and they broke apart, watching each other in silence broken only by their labored breathing. Yuri, stunned and dazed. Victor, with a growing grin and an air of victory.

 

Then with a shift of his weight and a push against the ice, Victor was skating backwards, eyes still locked with Yuri, who couldn’t look away if he tried.

 

“Victor I-”

 

But Victor just raised a single finger against his smiling lips and Yuri fell silent.

 

“Yuri…”

 

“Yes?”

 

Victor’s hand blindly found the play button on the speakers.

 

“I want you to try it again.”

 

 

[artwork](http://kurama2212.tumblr.com/post/153891254362/silverservererror-movement-two-%C3%A9tude-ill-be) by [Kurama2212](http://kurama2212.tumblr.com/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying writing these two so much! Would you like to see more? Comment and let me know! ^^


	3. Adagio

“Oh! Sorry Victor, I didn’t…”

 

When he didn’t respond, Yuri spotted the headphone wires running down Victor’s neck and coiling on the floor next to his phone. Unaware of his company, Victor spent a few more moments smiling to himself as he bent forward, hand around the arch of a socked foot as he stretched his right split. He smiled softly and his expression brightened, following the melody to a song that Yuri couldn’t hear.

 

But that didn’t last long at all.

 

Victor shifted, a hip rolling back as he pressed into center splits and finally faced the door frame Yuri was currently half-hiding behind.

 

Victor broke into a wide grin.  

 

“Yuri!” It was that same boisterous way he always greeted him. Yuri loved how Victor said his name. “Did you come all this way just to watch me stretch?”

 

He winked, and if he wasn’t nervous before Yuri knew his face must be red by now.

 

“No! Of course not!” He denied. Victor just chuckled at him. “I came to the rink to drill jumps this morning.”

 

“This early on a Saturday?” Victor’s nose scrunched up.

 

“You said I should work on them.”

 

“Did I?” Victor asked, shifting to his left split, reaching not quite so far forward on this side.

 

Yuri stepped a more fully into the doorway, but his hand still trailed on the frame like an anchor. “Don’t you remember?”

 

“Not really.” Victor put a playful finger to his lips and smiled through it, apparently entirely unconcerned. “But if I said it, it was probably good advice!”

 

Yuri’s face fell. It _was_ good advice of course. It wasn’t effort wasted. But was he really leaving so little of an impression on Victor?

 

It seemed like that wasn’t the only thing Victor had forgotten about. That first kiss had been heaven, then nothing had followed. Maybe it really was coaching and nothing more. Maybe Victor did that sort of thing all the time. Maybe to him, it hadn’t meant anything.

 

Yuri started to pull away. “Well, sorry to bother you. I’ll see you later? Should we set you a place for lunch?”

 

“Yuri!” Victor drew it out like he was scolding a child, and it was a little embarrassing but he liked his name said like that too.

 

“Yes, Victor?”

 

“Where do you think you are going? You need to stretch after a morning of drilling. Come here.”

 

Yuri kept his face straight the best he could. Was it a translation issue or did Victor really mean it to sound like that? Either way, what could he do beside steel his nerves and join him?

 

He leaned his skates against one of the benches and sat on the floor, legs out to the front. He’d always felt good about being able to grab his toes like this, but suddenly it felt so insufficient next to what he’d just witnessed Victor doing. To make things worse, instead of moving on to the the next stretch, Victor just watched him, evaluating.

 

“See, this is why your extensions look like a lobster.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Sure you can get your leg high enough to hit the position, but if you can’t straighten your knee, where are your lines?”

 

“But I-”

 

Victor crawled over to him and his hand closed around his lower thigh. Yuri’s breathing just about stopped, and he felt awkward suddenly, freezing still as a statue. Victor’s hand was around his leg. Slender. Long. Warm.  
  
It felt _good_.

 

“See?” And there was something slightly wicked and completely unfair to Victor’s voice. “You can wear your baggy sweatpants all you like, but I know what you’re doing Yuri. I know what your body is capable of.” Victor pressed him into the floor, careful but unyielding, and he felt that gentle tension in his body, from calf all the way up to his hip. “I know when you can give me more.”

 

Yuri swallowed and stared at his knees. At Victor’s pale hand against the fabric of his clothing. Felt the weight of his touch. His heart fluttered and again he felt that hunger. What could he say to that? What could he _possibly_ -?

 

But Victor moved away, leaving him in peace. It was a loss and a relief all at once.

 

“How are your splits by the way?” Victor asked him, sitting back on his hands and head tilted to the side.

 

Yuri gaped at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

 

Victor put a hand to his chest and pulled a scandalized expression. “You are breaking my poor Russian heart, Yuri!” Then a little more seriously, “Though… that does explain a few of your bad habits.”

 

“Bad habits?”

 

“Sure. If i could trust you to lift a leg without caving your chest, I might have put some extensions in your routine.”

 

Yuri felt the edges of shame creeping in and stared at the toes of his socks. His feet were taped underneath, a half-effective measure against yesterday’s blisters. It helped, but there was still pain to ignore. He knew without looking he’d bruised his fourth toes on either side this morning. It wasn’t so bad today, but it would be tomorrow. It was always something. He’d need to soak and elevate them when he got home.

 

“Flexibility isn’t really my strong point.”

 

Victor laughed at him, light and airy, like that was a punchline. “No kidding!” He gathered himself up and stood, hands on his hips. “Tell you what, I’ll help. I know splits aren’t any fun until you can actually do them, so I’ll hold your leg for you.”

 

“You’ll what?”

 

“On your back, my little cutlet!”

 

Yuri shifted, hesitantly offering a leg. “But I just spent all morning on jumps. My feet are all hot from my skates.”

 

To his surprise, Victor knelt and caught the back of his knee over his shoulder. “Then I won’t touch your foot!” Yuri looked up at him in a conflicted mess of fear, embarrassment, desire and longing as Victor pressed close to him, using his whole chest as leverage to gently push against the back of Yuri’s thigh. Victor’s hand was on his knee again, this time holding it stable on his shoulder. “How’s that?” Victor asked, completely polite and professional, then not so much when he felt resistance from Yuri’s muscles. “Oh wow. Is that really as far as you can go?”

 

Victor’s face was only about a foot or two away from Yuri’s but apparently that wasn’t going to be good enough.

 

“You can push a little harder, but I’m not used to going this far.”

 

Victor grinned, and his weight settled a little more heavily against his thigh, bending it another inch. ”Don’t worry, Yuri. I’ll be gentle.”  

 

And he was.

 

Yuri stared resolutely at the ceiling. Not at the soft way Victor’s blue eyes had seemed to lose focus. Not at the graceful fall of his bangs. Not at the hand that was moving soothingly up and down the side of his thigh.

 

“Relax, Yuri. You feel so tense.”

 

“Sorry,” he almost whispered.

 

“Don’t apologize,” Victor answered in a low, calming voice. “Just…” And here he inhaled. Yuri could feel his lungs expanding at the back of his leg. Then Victor let it back out again, sighing as he spoke, “... breathe.”

 

Yuri did, following Victor’s lead. In and out. In and out again. Slow and steady. His heart rate began to slow down.

 

“Good, Yuri. Very good.”

 

It was calming.

 

Somehow.

 

Victor was touching him- kneeling over his body- and somehow he just felt…

 

Calm.

 

“Victor?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Why are you doing splits?”

 

Victor chuckled softly at him. It didn’t disturb the peace that had settled over them.

 

“Because Russia knows how to properly train a skater.”

 

“No I...“ Yuri huffed and crossed his hands behind his head, still staring at the plastic covering of the fluorescent ceiling lights. “You’re not skating this season. Why put in all the effort?”

 

Yuri knew better than any just how much work it took.

 

Without a word, Victor eased off his leg, guiding it gently to the ground before picking up the other and repeating the stretch on the second side.

 

“Coming back gets harder the older you get. You must have noticed, right?” Victor’s chest kept a constant pressure on Yuri’s leg, but his head dipped, face hidden behind his hair. His hands held Yuri’s thigh almost like a hug. “I’m not sure I’d be able to come back at all if I let go now.”

 

Yuri had a compulsion to touch Victor’s hair again. Not the part, but to run his hand through it. To feel it slip between his fingers. He resisted.

 

“I’m sure you could.”

 

“Maybe, but I can’t take that chance.”

 

Silence settled over them once more. Soft breaths. Gentle shifting. The constant give of Yuri’s muscle.

 

“Splits though?”

 

Victor looked down at him, considering, and Yuri met his gaze. Whatever spell had settled over him was powerful enough that this closeness suddenly didn’t feel so dangerous.

 

He shrugged, moving Yuri’s knee along with his shoulder. “I’ve watched Yurio train by my side my entire adult career. The closer he got to competing in the men’s division, the more I knew I’d need flexibility on my side to stay competitive against him.”

 

“You were worried about Yurio?” It seemed unbelievable. Yurio was good, but Victor was _Victor_.

 

“I don’t know if I’d say _worried_ , but I do keep track of the serious challengers.”

 

Something about Yuri’s expression fell, and Victor gave pause. He frowned a little and eased off of his leg, setting it to his side, but letting his hand stay rested on his thigh. “I’ve said something wrong again, haven’t I?”

 

“No.”

 

“Yuri…” His tone held a slight edge of warning.    
  
“I just…” Victor took his leg again and Yuri let him move it how he wanted, crossing it over his body. Victor placed a hand on the side of his knee and the other on his hip, gently stretching the outer side of his leg. “I just wish I could have impressed you more.”

 

Victor backed off a little. It was just a tiny movement but it felt so significant in difference to how deep the stretch was.

 

“What makes you think you didn’t impress me? I flew all the way to Japan just to claim you as my student.”

 

And that felt good. It really did. But it still didn’t-

 

“But it’s not like your stamina is any good.”

 

Victor blinked at him. “I’m not sure I follow, little cutlet.”

 

“If you’re still training for next season… If you thought I was a worthy competitor, you’d be working on your stamina. It’s the only advantage I have over you.”

 

Victor sat back again, guiding Yuri’s leg gently to the floor. When he didn’t move on to the other one, Yuri glanced up to see Victor looking a little hurt.  

 

“What?”

 

“I go on every run with you Yuri. Did you think that was for _your_ sake?”

 

“You ride your bike!”

 

“It’s still a work out.” Victor looked a little sheepish as he pushed his hair behind an ear. Yuri almost didn’t believe he could make the expression.

 

Yuri pushed up to his elbows, staring at Victor where he kneeled between his legs. “You mean you… You’re actually worried about going up against me?” Yuri’s eyes were so bright. His grin so free. It might have felt cruel if Victor wasn’t secure enough in his abilities to not take it personally.

 

“Not worried, Yuri. But aware of your talents, yes.”

 

“So you _are_ skating next year!?”

 

“Are you?”

 

They looked at each other and it was clear by the sudden hesitance that neither of them had an answer. Victor’s gaze slipped away, avoiding Yuri’s eye and finding refuge in his hip instead. He reached out to hold his leg and Yuri allowed it as he crossed it across his body, stretching the other side, a hand on his hip pressing him into the floor for resistance.

 

“I don’t know what I’ll do after this,” Victor said, expression suddenly so quiet, so small. “Have you thought about it at all? Life after skating?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“And?”

 

And it had left him depressed, limping through his final semester, out of shape and moved back into his parents’ home.

 

But he didn’t say anything. It all felt a little too bleak.

 

Victor moved his leg back to the floor.

 

“I’ve never thought about it,” Victor continued. “Or… not beyond coaching. That’s what we have to do, right? Coach, commentate or fade away?”

 

“No,” Victor offered him a hand and he took it, sitting up and looking at him from so close. In some abstract way he understood he was in a rare position to see Victor’s flaws. Fine lines and skin that was so pale and prone to dark circles under the eyes. But even like this, he didn’t see anything other than perfection. “You could never be forgotten.”

 

Victor had some joke ready, but as soon as he caught the earnest look on Yuri’s face he stopped. A much softer expression took its place, and his voice was kind even as it teased. “Such dedication. Are you my number one fan, Yuri?”

 

And Yuri’s eyes fell somewhere around his chest, avoidant and sheepish. Were his cheeks burning as red as they felt?

 

Victor caught his chin and gently guided it up. Yuri’s expression was so bare. So much vulnerability and a touch of fear.

  
“Don’t worry,” Victor said quietly into the space between them. “I think I might be yours too.”

 

Yuri’s heart thundered in his chest.

 

“You mean-?”

 

“Can I kiss you?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Victor leaned in and Yuri felt him against his lips. Felt his gentle breath on his cheek. For a moment he thought his heart might explode. Victor was kissing him. Again. It was too much. Entirely too much. It was the lightest brush of Victor’s lips against his own. Soft. Warm. And electrified. The intensity of his feeling was overwhelming. His body buzzed.

 

He whined ever so slightly as his eyes fell closed.

 

And Victor smiled against him.

 

They moved slowly, and Yuri felt it like lightning down his jaw. Sneaking down his spine. Victor licked at the seam of his lips and his mouth fell so willingly open. Victor groaned his praise as a hand came to the back of Yuri’s head, pulling him closer as Victor kissed him deeply. As the tip of Victor’s tongue teased along his own, making him shudder.

 

Yuri moaned into it, wrapping his arms around Victor’s shoulders. Victor sucked in a sharp, reflexive inhale before kissing him harder, giving into gravity and the weight of Yuri in his arms and gently laid him back, mouth never leaving him. Yuri’s legs rose to wrap around his waist, and hold him close.

 

Yuri kept waiting for him to pull away. For Victor to leave him breathless like he had on the ice. To leave him wanting and scared and confused.

 

But it didn’t come. Victor just moved against him. Teased his lips. Sucked on his tongue. And all the time Yuri groaned for him. Gasped for him. Held him tight and needed. Lost himself in the blissful feeling that Victor was teasing out of his mouth. The feeling that was pooling between his legs. There were hands on him now. Victor’s hands. Sneaking under the seam of his shirt. Petting along his stomach as it hitched and panted. Slipping down the line of his pelvis and beneath his waistband, exciting him and-

 

“Wait!”

 

Victor froze and looked up at him, instantly contrite. “I’m sorry Yuri! I felt you and I thought-”

 

He tried to pull back but Yuri’s arms and legs held him close even as he stared away at the ceiling.

 

“It’s ok.”

 

“Do you want me to go?”

 

“No!” Yuri looked down at him now, panicked at the thought. “No, I want to keep kissing!” He hesitated… feeling so vulnerable. “But, only kissing. If that’s alright?”

 

Victor carefully shifted, placing a forearm to each side of Yuri’s head as he looked down at him. His fingers played in his short, dark hair. “Of course. But… are you sure?” His voice was so calming. “I don’t want you to feel any pressure.”

 

Yuri took a relieved breath and his chest shifted with it as he bit his lip and nodded. It took courage to look Victor in the eye and say, “Very.”

 

Victor opened his mouth then stopped, like he didn’t really know what to say. But then he just smiled, and shifted so he could caress a thumb across Yuri’s bottom kiss-swollen, pink lip. “You’re so sweet, Yuri,” He said quietly. Then Victor’s eyes followed as his hand shifted, dragging down his chest slowly, feeling him through tight, thin fabric. “My tasty little katsudon…” It was every inch adoration and Yuri felt himself burning up and his heart aching.

 

Victor glanced back up at him. Slowly… so slowly, his hand quested lower again, slipping under his shirt and running up his bare skin to hold his waist. “Is it ok if I touch you here?” Victor asked softly. His hands spread so broad, and Yuri felt almost cradled in the embrace of it.

 

“Yes.”

 

His second hand found his other side and then Victor was leaning down, speaking softly.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“For what?”

 

But in the next breath they were kissing again. Slow and deep. Relaxed and hedonistic. And Yuri forgot anything that wasn’t Victor’s touch on his bare skin or his weight against his body. Forgot anything beyond the way Victor made him feel.

 

But it did eventually end.

 

Slow and easy and comfortable.

 

Victor settled his cheek against Yuri’s chest and his arms wrapped around his waist, making him arch so slightly for him. They both ignored what Victor was feeling against his belly.

 

“I was worried,” Victor said softly after a while. For a moment the fingers in Victor’s hair paused, then kept brushing along his scalp. He waited. And Victor continued. “I thought coaching would be... That there weren’t any surprises left.” Victor took a deep breath. “But I was wrong. Yuri, you’ve proven me wrong. And I’m so grateful. You have no idea how much you-” Victor’s hand pulled close, open and reverent against his stomach as Victor stared at it. It occurred to Yuri suddenly, that with his ear against his chest like that, Victor might be able to hear his racing heartbeat. “How much coaching you has meant to me.”

 

Yuri fought to keep his expression straight as his vision started to blur.

 

“Yuri?” Victor pushed against the ground, looking a little panicked as his eyes darted over him. “Oh no! What did I say? Please, don’t cry!”

 

And Yuri laughed. What else could he do? A sob escaped him as his mouth split into a grin and he wiped his tears away with a sleeve. “It’s fine! I’m fine. I’m just- I’m happy.”

 

“Are you sure you are ok!?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Victor frowned at him half-heartedly, suspicious but relieved. Yuri smiled as he watched him worry, then wipe away a new tear on the back of a hesitant knuckle. Yuri didn’t want to make Victor uncomfortable but somehow he just couldn’t stop.

 

Victor looked a little lost, but he asked, entirely earnest, “Do you want to kiss again?”

 

Yuri laughed and pushed himself up to meet Victor’s lips.

 

“Yes!”

 

 

 

Artwork by [Kurama2212](http://kurama2212.tumblr.com/)


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